The Bruichladdich Distillery has been making artisan single malt Scotch whisky since 1881 on the Isle of Islay in the UK. As the southernmost island of the Inner Hebrides of Scotland, you may not expect the island's 620 square kilometers (239 square miles) to be the ideal habitat for electric cars.

Apparently, though, the Nissan Leaf works out quite well for Mark Reynier, managing director at the distillery. The island's inhabitants are also benefited, says Reynier, by Nissan's Power Control System, which allows the Leaf's high-capacity lithium ion battery to power other devices – important when a single storm can completely cut the island's link to the outside world.

Watch Reynier describe how the Nissan Leaf has improved his life and his distillery in the video bel...

Farmer, car dealer, Le Mans winner, sports-car maker, businessman and tuner Carroll Shelby passsed away on May 11. To honor his contribution to the numerous segments of the auto industry he impacted, cable network Velocity will be airing a three-hour, three-part miniseries on Sunday, May 20.

Called "King of the Road: Carroll Shelby," each hour-long episode will chronicle an era in Shelby's life: his journey from a Texas farm to the top step at Le Mans and building the Cobra; his partnership with Ford and the Mustang GT350; and the road that car followed into becoming the Ford Shelby GT500.

Have a read of the press release below...

Associated gallery: Stills from Velocity's Carroll Shelby miniseries Photos

How many people can you fit into a car? It's a question that's been asked about any number of small cars. They're usually Volkswagen models, and those determined to find the answer are most likely to be a group of relatively small and flexible individuals. But Chevrolet has taken a different approach.

The American automaker's British division wants to know how many rugby players can fit inside a new Aveo – one of its smallest vehicles, also known as the Sonic on this side of the Mayflower's journey. But rather than answer the question itself, it has launched a competition across the UK. With the rugby season about to kick off, whichever team fits the most of its players into an Aveo by the end of the year will win a whole me...

Associated gallery: How many rugby players can you fit into a Chevrolet Aveo? Photos

Drifting's been off the front pages for a while, the latest reports having more to do with turmoil than tire shredding. As with most things, though, just because it's not headlining doesn't mean it's disappeared. NOS energy drink sent one of our favorite filmic chroniclers, Will Roegge, across the country to survey the drifting world. The result is a mini-documentary called Keep Drifting Fun.

And we do mean the word "documentary" – it's 30 minutes long. Although there's plenty of smoke and wall-kissing, its length gives us an opportunity to hear from drifters and organizers to find out what's behind the sport, as well as their own motivations, where drifters come from and why they drift. It looks at venues beyond the track, like tree-lined back roads in Houston and alleys in late-night El Paso, and we dig that it starts off with the protagonists them...

Slammed Skodas, Seats, Audis and Polos are all well and nice, but at the end of the day, the annual gathering of Volkswagen performance enthusiasts at Lake Wörthersee in Austria is about the GTI. That much isn't lost on Volkswagen, so in addition to bringing the new GTI Cabrio along with all the aforementioned corporate cousins, the German automaker has rolled into the lakeside expo with the tricked-out concept car you see here.

Called the GTI Black Dynamic, the show car is the work of nine lucky (and apparently talented) student interns at Volkswagen. The team dropped the suspension 35 mm lower than stock, bumped the output up by 150 horsepower to a prodigious 360, upgraded the gearbox and brakes to cope with the extra power an...

Associated gallery: Volkswagen Golf GTI Black Dynamic Concept Photos

The University of Michigan has had one of the preeminent solar car teams in the world for more than two decades, but a new group of students is looking to make its own mark in the world of green engineering. The school will be fielding its first entry in the annual SAE Supermileage competition this year.

If you think a bunch of newbies would launch their effort somewhat low-key, you probably aren't from Michigan or familiar with the Wolverine Way. Michigan has set its goal at nothing short of the North American record of bettering 3,169 miles per gallon with its single-cylinder, Briggs & Stratton lawnmower engine. The expectation is that the Michigan car will hit 3,300 mpg.

The Supermileage competition has been held since 1980, requiring students to design and build extremely lightweight, single-seat vehicles. The competi...

Volvo recently unveiled yet another model year of the impossibly old XC90 – promised to be the final one before a complete redesign. But the overripe vintage of the first SUV to fall from Volvo's vine isn't stopping corporate parent Geely from absconding with the platform to launch a new high-end brand for China.

According to China Car Times, Volvo's new XC90 will be launching in 2014, and after that the original will soldier on in China, at least in some form. The report does not make clear whether the first-generation XC90 will merely be re-badge...

Associated gallery: 2013 Volvo XC90 Photos

Our post on China's "Tiger mom" phenomenon was illustrated with that above picture; it's the Jeep Wrangler Dragon Design Concept at the 2012 Beijing Motor Show, accompanied by a booth professional. The model – her, not the Jeep – made a fair few friends in the WheelsNews Comments section, but it turns out she and her kind attracted the ire of the Chinese authorities.

The Capital Ethics Development Office gave the Beijing show organizers a caning because the "scantily clad" models had "a negative social impact," and the show was warned not to let "such vulgar publicity" occur again. There's a lot of room between tha...

The crew at Translogic took the time to stop by and see the the team at ALTe Powertrain Technologies recently. Founded by a group of former Tesla Motors executives, the company focuses on building plug-in hybrid conversions for fleet vehicles. From creations like a Ford F-150 with a 2.0-liter gasoline engine and two 60-kilowatt electric motors to full-size delivery trucks, buses and vans, the company is focused on reducing fuel consumption on some of the largest and hardest-working machinery out there. ALTe says the F-150 conversion supplies up to 465 pound-feet of torque, which is more than the old 4.6-liter V8.

Most of the truck conversions come with 22-kWh lithium-ion battery packs, which yield 25-40 miles of all-electric range. From there, the four-cylinder kicks in to keep the batteries charged and the motors spinning.

ALTe says the ...